LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



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tJNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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Robert C.H/\lloc^ D.D. 






POPULAR PROVERBS 



FALSE AND TRUE. 



BY 
Rev. ROBERT C. HALLOCK, D.D., 

Minister of the First Presbyterian Church, Southampton, 
Long; Island. 



NEW YORK: 
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 

38 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET. 

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Copyright, 1891, by 
Anson D. F. Randolph & Company. 



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POPULAR PROVERBS: 
FALSE AND TRUE. 



AMONG the strongest influences for 
good or for evil in a nation's life are 
popular proverbs. They come, backed 
by the authority of the multitudes ; 
and that which " everybody says " we 
instinctively accept as true. There is 
a natural tendency among all nations 
to make these compact and pithy say- 
ings, these " rugged maxims hewn from 
life," and then to accept and believe 
them unquestioningly. They are sup- 
posed to be compressed summaries of 
practical wisdom, pure condensations 

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Popular Proverbs. 

of life-experience. Hence the danger 
from false popular proverbs. Satan 
makes such, and sends them abroad in 
the world ; and few of his messengers 
are more effective than are those imps 
of falsehood and sin, which, " borrow- 
ing the livery of heaven to serve the 
devil in/' come around under the guise 
of " popular proverbs. " It becomes 
imperatively necessary, therefore, for 
him who is set as a watchman for 
souls, to expose these wolves in sheep's 
clothing. On the other hand, there 
are many popular proverbs which are 
full of truth and vigor, and which are 
worthy of our study. Formed from 
the wisdom of many by the wit of one, 
they are crystallizations of experience, 
terse expressions of the wisdom of the 
ancients. For instance : How much 
sad experience is compacted into the 
proverb, " Time flies ! " Or, how 
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Popular Rroverbs. 

quaintly the old saying that " A roll- 
ing stone gathers no moss " tells that 
the world has learned the folly of 
fickleness and change. So too, " The 
early bird gets the worm " teaches the 
lesson of long experience, that life's 
prizes are for the vigilant,, the active, 
the diligent, who are about their work 
r betimes. How laconic and incisive 
are such proverbs as " Beauty is but 
skin deep"; " Talk is cheap"; " Penny 
wise, pound foolish "; " Least said, 
soonest mended "; " Enough is as good 
as a feast"; " Waste, makes want"; 
" Brag is a brave dog." 

The Bible bids us prove all things: 
how shall we distinguish between the 
false and the true popular proverbs ? 
The Bible itself is the test. u To the 
law and to the testimony." " They 
say" must be judged by " Thus saith 
the Lord." 

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Popular Proverbs. 

I. Let us first examine several pop- 
ular proverbs which, though commonly 
accepted and quoted as true, are full 
of the poison of that wisdom which 
cometh not from above, but from 
below. 

I. u MONEY MAKES THE MARE GO." 

So the proverb runs, and so men be- 
lieve. But it is false. The motive 
power of the world, the power which 
moves and moulds it in the long run, 
is not money, but mind ; not cash, but 
character; not mammon, but man- 
hood. Thought rules the world. The 
true kings of the earth have not been 
the " money kings." The names of 
" earths chosen heroes " have not been 
inscribed upon the world's honor roll 
because of the dollars they ruled. And 
the great issues of history have not 
been financial issues ; but intellectual, 
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Popular Proverbs. 

or moral, or humanitarian, or religious. 
The vindication and enthronement of 
constitutional law, the advance of 
popular sovereignty, the growth of 
. liberty, the abolition of slavery, the 
uplifting of woman, education for the 
people, — these, and such as these, have 
been the true issues of history. The 
great crises in the history of nations 
have not been financial crises. The 
Revival of Learning, the Reformation, 
the English Revolution, the American 
Revolutionary War, the War of the Re- 
bellion, — vast crises of history, all of 
them, — were not money questions. 

Still less is this proverb true as re- 
gards the Church. Money is needed 
to carry on the work of the Church, 
but money is not the motive power. 
It is a lubricator which makes the 
wheels move more easily, but it does 
not and cannot furnish power for spir- 

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Popular Proverbs. 

itual work. Only God's Spirit can do 
that. So, too, the preacher, as any 
other man, must have money to live; 
but most certainly money is not the 
controlling motive of the ministry. 
"The love of Christ constraineth us." 
Money is a mighty force, but it is not 
the chief influence. It is neither the 
ruling nor the motive power, in either 
the world or the Church. With earn- 
estness we deny the truth of that be- 
littling proverb which affirms that 
" money makes the mare go ! " 

2. " EVERY MAN HAS HIS PRICE." 

No ; God forbid ! This proverb is 
a satanic cynicism, and a satanic lie. 
" Every man has his price," sneers the 
world. " One man can be bought low. 
He will sell his vote, his manhood, his 
honor, for a dollar or two. Another 
man may hold himself much higher; 



Popular Proverbs. 

but bid high enough and you will get 
him! Every man has his price ! " The 
world is mistaken. Its proverb is false 
in fact, and vicious in influence. There 
are men — and, thank God, they are 
not few — who hold their honor and 
manhood and self-respect too high to 
be bought at any price. They are not 
for sale ! What price could have 
bought the martyrs, or the Apostle 
Paul, or George Washington, or Abra- 
ham Lincoln ? When a leading Amer- 
ican was approached by a secret emis- 
sary of George III., and large bait was 
offered him to throw his influence on 
the side of England, the patriot drew 
himself proudly up and said : " Go back 
to your master and tell him that I 
am not worth purchasing, but that such 
as I am, there is not money enough in 
all his royal coffers to buy me ! " And 
we dare to affirm, in the face of the 

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Popular Proverbs, 

world's sneers, and in spite of the woe- 
fully frequent sales of manhood and 
honor, that there are many men who 
are above all price, and cannot be 
bought. The worst of the proverb is 
not so much its falseness, but its de- 
grading influence. Young men, hear- 
ing it continually, come to feel that 
the world expects them to sell them- 
selves ; that in fact it is the proper 
thing to do ; and that the only thing 
of importance is to get a high enough 
price. If " England expects every man 
to do his duty," then every man wili 
show himself a hero: but if England 
expects her soldiers to prove cowards 
she will find them such. Let the 
proverb, " Every man has his price," be 
universally accepted as true, and all too 
soon it will prove true. Denounce it, 
declare it to be a satanic lie, and it will 
prove to be false. 

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Popular Proverbs. 

3. "LOOK OUT FOR NO. I." 
" Get all you can, and keep all you 
get," says the world. " Every man for 
himself, and the devil take the hind- 
most ! " But this wisdom is " earthly, 
sensual,devilish." Compare this motto, 
polluted with the curse of selfishness, 
with the sublime command of Christ, 
that we love our neighbors as our- 
selves, and His equally sublime decla- 
ration, that it is more blessed to give 
than to receive ! Woe to the man 
who takes as his life-motto : " Look 
out for No. 1." Many souls have been 
slain by that slow poison. 

4. " SOW YOUR WILD OATS WHILE 
YOU ARE YOUNG." 

So Satan tells you, and the world 
pardons you for following the devilish 
advice ; but God warns you that what 
you sow you must reap, and that your 



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Popular Proverbs, 

youth has in it the making or marring 
of your whole future. He that sows 
the wind must reap the whirlwind ; he 
that sows to his flesh shall reap cor- 
ruption ; he that sows " wild oats " in 
the bright days of youth shall reap a 
woeful harvest in the days when the 
shadows lengthen, and the end draws 
nigh. This deadly proverb is one of 
" the snares of the devil/' and by it 
he has ensnared many strong men to 
death. 

5. " IN ROME DO AS THE ROMANS DO." 

Why? If Rome reads silly and 
hurtful books, observes foolish and 
wicked customs, holds false and de- 
structive opinions, and degrades life to 
a farce, why must I do as the Romans 
do? Must I bow my mind to custom, 
and my conscience to the commands 
of society? If Providence has cast 



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Popular Proverbs. 

my lot in Rome, then Rome shall be 
my home ; but I need not be a slave 
to Rome ! Daniel dwelt in Babylon, 
but he purposed that he would not 
defile himself. It is possible to live in 
the world, and yet not be conformed 
to the world ; to be in the world, yet 
not of it. Think for yourself; stand 
by conscience and principle, even 
though it be in the face of all the 
world. " Count me o'er earth's chosen 
heroes : they were men that stood 
alone ! " Weak conformity to custom, 
sacrifice of independence and self-re- 
spect, and a debilitated conscience, are 
the result of the contemptible advice, 
" Whenin Rome, do as the Romans do." 

6. " BAD COMPANY IS BETTER THAN 
NONE." 

No proverb is more common than 
this one : none falser or more destruc- 

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Popular Proverbs. 

tive. Company is desirable, but it is a 
thousand times better to walk alone 
than to go in bad company. The boy 
and young man want associates, and 
to find them " loaf" around the street 
corner or the saloon. The young 
woman says, " I don't want to be a 
wall-flower. All the other girls have 
company, and so must I. Perhaps this 
young man is not all that he ought to 
be, but bad company is better than 
none." No ! young man, young wom- 
an, a thousand times, No! " He that 
walketh with wise men shall be wise, 
but a companion of fools shall be de- 
stroyed." So says the Word of God, 
and so testifies the experience of the 
world. No company is better than bad 
company, for bad company is destruc- 
tive. Sit alone, and sooner or later 
good company will come ; keep bad 
company and you can keep none else. 
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Popular Proverbs. 

Walk alone for conscience sake, and 
angels will walk with you ; walk with 
sinners for the sake of company, and 
you shall share in their destruction. 
Satan made the proverb, " Bad com- 
pany is better than none." 

7. "AS WELL HAVE THE GAME AS 
THE NAME." 

Of all the proverbs we have studied, 
this is the most utterly debasing. " As 
well have the game as the name ! " Is 
it true? Is character nothing, and the 
name all? Makes it no difference to 
have peace of conscience? Is it no 
matter what God thinks, no matter 
for the Judgment Day? Out upon a 
motto so base and so degrading ! Is 
it as well to be bad as to be thought 
bad ? Then the devil reigns, and 
purity, righteousness, conscience and 
God are empty names of mockery ! 

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Popular Proverbs, 

II. In the second place, there are 
some popular proverbs which are false 
or true according as you interpret them. 
Take, as an illustration : 

I. " all's well that ends well." 

There is a sense in which that is 
true. What will it matter, when we 
have reached heaven, whether our 
earthly life is sad or joyous, bright or 
dark? What matters it to the success- 
ful climber who stands upon the moun- 
tain summit, that his upward path has 
lain through dark chasms, over jagged 
rocks, and in the midst of many ter- 
rors? In this sense the proverb is true 
and helpful. 

But if you interpret the proverb 
to mean that success justifies wrong 
means ; that if the politician wins the 
election you must ask no questions as 
to means used, but only congratulate 
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Popular Proverbs. 

the victor; or, if you interpret the 
proverb to mean that if you can at the 
last slip into heaven " by the skin of 
your teeth," and then chuckle to your- 
self, " All's well that ends well," — so 
interpreted, the proverb is as false as 
Satan ! 

2. " FINE FEATHERS MAKE FINE 
BIRDS." 

Yes: if you speak it with sarcastic 
inflection. Very often most common- 
place birds make a brave show when 
dressed up in fine feathers ! But if 
you affirm the motto as a veritable 
truth, we brand it as a lie. Fine feath- 
ers do not make fine birds. If a 
wretched outcast lies drunk in a ditch, 
he is a miserable drunkard : if a 
wealthy, well-clad sport lies drunk at 
the club, he too is a miserable drunk- 
ard. The immoral roue who infests 

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Popular Proverbs, 

society with his loathsome presence is 
no whit a finer bird than is the wretch 
whose name adorns the registers of the 
police court. " A man's a man for a 
that "; and so is a beast. Fine feath- 
ers do not make fine birds. " Cursed 
be the social lies that warp us from 
the living truth ! " 

III. But many popular proverbs are 
wholly true, and they challenge our 
attention for their truth and their 
vigor. Let us examine a few of them 
somewhat more carefully than: we are 
wont. 

I. " BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK 
TOGETHER." 

How true. A man is known by the 
company he keeps. If his tastes are 
low, he will seek low company; if 
he seek low company it proves his 
tastes low, whatever his denial. Water 






Popular Proverbs. 

finds its level ; the principle of " natu- 
ral selection " brings people of the 
same type together. Saints seek the 
society of saints ; sinners that of sin- 
ners. Men go to hell only because 
they are fitted for hell ; no man can 
live in heaven who is not heavenly. 
Empty hell and heaven and leave their 
former inhabitants free to choose either 
place, and ultimately they would all 
be back in their old quarters ! Birds 
of a feather flock together because they 
belong together. " What fellowship 
hath righteousness with unrighteous- 
ness? and what communion hath light 
with darkness? " 

2. "YOU CAN'T HANDLE PITCH AND 
NOT BE BLACKED." 

Nothing truer. You can't read black 
books and not be blacked. You can't 
entertain vile and unlovely thoughts 

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Popular Proverbs, 

and not be stained. You can't listen 
to " smutty'' stories and not be spot- 
ted by the smut. You can't come into 
contact with the world's foulness and 
escape defilement. A young man wants 
" to know the world," and says, " Oh, 
it will not hurt me to see something 
of life ! I don't want to be an ignorant 
ninny, I want to know what is in the 
world. I want to be posted." Ah, 
young man, " learn well to know how 
much need not be known, and what 
that knowledge which impairs the 
sense." If by knowing the world you 
mean becoming familiar with the in- 
iquity of the world, be assured that 
you can't touch pitch and not be 
blacked ! Don't dabble in the world's 
mud-puddles and cesspools: the knowl- 
edge so obtained is not worth the soil- 
ure. " Wise unto that which is good, 
and simple concerning evil," is Paul's 



Popular Proverbs. 

advice. Oh, that we could impress 
upon all, the solemn truth of this old 
proverb : " You can't touch pitch and 
not be blacked ! " 

3. "FAINT HEART NEVER WON FAIR 
LADY." 

No doubt this proverb is true in its 
literal application. It is probable that 
any fair lady who is worth the winning 
would scorn to be won by a coward. 
But the proverb has a much wider ap- 
plication. It means that life's prizes 
are to be won by the brave, the per- 
severing, the courageous. This is true 
of worldly success. The coward and 
the craven are always distanced in the 
race of life. It is the man who is 
"diligent in his business " that shall 
" stand before kings ; he shall not stand 
before mean men." But the same prin- 
ciple holds true of religion. No man's 

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Popular Proverbs. 

life-boat ever drifted into heaven ! He 
who would be saved must " bend to 
the oar." We are warned to agonize 
to enter in at the strait gate. The 
kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, 
and the violent taketh it by force. 
The Christian life is a race, a warfare, 
a struggle. The prize is great, fair, 
precious ; but it cannot be won by the 
drone and the idler. The rewards even 
of earth are granted to earnest workers 
only : shall the pearl of great price, 
shall heaven, be held on lower terms ? 

4. " MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN 
SHINES. " 

Ah ! there is the ripe wisdom of life. 
" Make hay while the sun shines ": 
the night cometh in which no man can 
work. Life has its times of oppor- 
tunity; which may be used or abused 
* — then comes destiny ! First the day 



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Popular Proverbs, 

of grace : then the day of judgment. 
Youth is a time of sunshine, a time 
of opportunity. " Spread wide your 
skirts when the heavens rain gold." 
The golden opportunities of youth 
come not back again. To-day is a 
time of sunshine, of opportunity ; but 
it will soon be gone. "Be- wise to- 
day ; 'tis madness to defer." The pres- 
ent is ours, the present only. Work to- 
day. " Make hay while the sun shines." 
Life is a time of sunshine, of oppor- 
tunity. When death comes, then comes 
destiny! Do the work of life while 
life lasts ; the night cometh. "What- 
soever thy hand findeth to do, do it 
with thy might ; for there is no work, 
nor device, nor knowledge, nor wis- 
dom, in the grave, whither thou goest." 
Accept Christ now : to-day is the sun- 
shine of grace. At a later time He 
may say : " Too late— thou canst not 

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Popular Proverbs. 

enter now!" Grasp opportunity ere 
it changes into destiny. " Make hay 
while the sun shines ": this is the sum 
of life's wisdom. 

5. " BETTER LATE THAN NEVER." 

Some of you have rejected Christ 
many long years : some have neglected 
known duties for many months. What 
then ? O, friends, 'tis better late than 
never ! Come to Christ now — to-day. 
Begin even now to do the long-neg- 
lected duties. Begin now to be a 
Christian ; begin now to serve the Sav- 
iour. You say you have delayed very 
long, that it is very late? Yes, 'tis 
true. Some of you have grown gray- 
haired in years of disobedience. It is 
very late. But I am commissioned in 
Christ's name to say to you, " It's 
better late than never, better late than 
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Popular Proverbs, 

never!" Come now, before it grows 
too late ! 

6. " HE LAUGHS BEST WHO LAUGHS 
LAST." 
Yes: Dives may laugh in this world, 
but we will choose our lot with Laz- 
arus rather. The wicked may sneer 
at religion here, but who shall come 
out best in the end ? Things are of 
real value only as they shall be re- 
garded in the light of eternity. Do 
not make time your standard of meas- 
ure: "what shall it profit a man if he 
gain the whole world, and lose his own 
soul ? " Heaven, not earth, is the test. 
He who wins God, wins glory, wins 
eternal life and bliss — whatever he may 
suffer in this world — is the blessed 
one. " He laughs best who laughs 
last." 

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